So does this mean that with a normal wired connection I can't get the inbox on my Blacberry to replicate the one on my Outlook??? Even with my old electronic organiser I could respond to emails on the organiser and then sync it with outlook......if I've understood you correctly, I'll have to go through the same emails twice....once on blackberry and then once on outlook, trying to remember what I did with them on the blackberry????? What's the point??

The "point" is that the BlackBerry does WIRELESS E-MAIL. It does not sync your Inbox. E-Mail arrives on the BlackBerry, dependinmg on the method you use, any where from instantaneously to 15 minutes after it is received. You do not sync your e-mail.

Now, how are you planning to get the e-mail wirelessly to your BlackBerry? There are several alternatives, all of them described in detail on ine of Mark Rejhon's FAQs in at the top of the General BlackBerry forum.

Gary,
In your Blackberry Web Client, there is a setting under Profile that will allow you to send a copy of messages that you send from your handheld to another email account. This will BCC the reply to whatever address you input.

Thanks guys for all the advice.....just to summarise my situation. Our small business uses a POP based mail service which I download into Outlook. It's a company specific email address, not a hotmail or yahoo address and is run by the ISP I use.

I have set up my blackberry so that I can receive the emails to it wirelessly and this seems to work fine. However, at the moment I've left the emails on the server until I sort out the answer to my query.

So I'm dealing with duplicate emails.

I can't have a situation where my emails are only stored on my blackberry. I need them on my laptop and network for future reference, etc.

So what I wanted to do (and maybe this is impossible from your comments) is to receive my emails on the move through my Blackberry (this works fine) but when I get back to base or my hotel to link the blackberry and the laptop and make sure that the emails I've opened, replied to or deleted using the blackberry are mirrored on the laptop. At the moment, I've got to go through all the emails again and delete, etc. Also, I dont have the copy of my replies in my Sent directory.

Have I just misjudged what the Blackberry can do? It seems really odd that with my PDA I can use intellisync to copy my inbox across and alter emails and then re-sync when wired to the network, but dont seem to be able to do that with the Blackberry.

Can I use wireless reconcilliation instead? Or do I need a fancy microsoft exchange system?

I think what I might be struggling with is a combination of perhaps an incorrect expectation of the device but also very poor documentation which doesn't realy explain how the email system works. Plus I'm also used to using Intellisync on my PDA to sync my inbox as well as calendar etc.

As far as I know, the only way to actually "sync" emails with a server is by using BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server). The "ACTIVESYNC/HOTSYNC" type of functionallity that you are describing is not there for email on the BlackBerry.

In fact, this is why they are so popular with enterprises. They are wireless first and foremost.

"If wireless email reconciliation is not enabled on your handheld,
you must use the BlackBerry Desktop Software to reconcile your
handheld and desktop messages. Refer to the Desktop Software:
Intellisync Help for more information."

So I assume it can be done....just nowhere can I find how .....there's nothing in the Intellisync help. I'm not looking for immediate sync just when I connect via the wire

"If wireless email reconciliation is not enabled on your handheld,
you must use the BlackBerry Desktop Software to reconcile your
handheld and desktop messages. Refer to the Desktop Software:
Intellisync Help for more information."

WIreless reconciliation means between the web client and the handheld.
These will stay the same if you want them to.
As far as the duplicate messages go, I actually prefer that. ON more that one occasion, I have deleted a message on my Blackberry that I realized I needed later. Saved because it also downloaded on my Outlook desktop client.

Bump.
This topic is such a major source of confusion for new users.
All was fine when RIM were marketing to corporate customers.
But now the BB is being sold at the corner cell phone store. If you talk to a retail CSR at Cingular or Tmo you are likely to walk out of the shop with a shiny new BB under the impression that your email will simply sync with Outlook over a USB cable. Heck last year I had a TMo rep tell me that a BB uses ActiveSync to sync with Outlook. I love my new 8700 but the relationship with Outlook is a major step backwards from the PocketPC I migrated from.

Bump.
This topic is such a major source of confusion for new users.
All was fine when RIM were marketing to corporate customers.
But now the BB is being sold at the corner cell phone store. If you talk to a retail CSR at Cingular or Tmo you are likely to walk out of the shop with a shiny new BB under the impression that your email will simply sync with Outlook over a USB cable. Heck last year I had a TMo rep tell me that a BB uses ActiveSync to sync with Outlook. I love my new 8700 but the relationship with Outlook is a major step backwards from the PocketPC I migrated from.

Many of the store reps have no idea how any of their phones/pda work. I always do some research before I go into a store so I know what to expect. No where in any BB documentation does it mention email syncing except with BES.

When I had a blackberry 850 by skytel, I was able to sync my emails with outlook. This was a corporate/BES account, so I know that it DOES work, but I don't remember exactly how it was done as this was 4/5 years ago. I loaded it with the redirector option and it synced up my emails to outlook through the cradle.

I haven't been able to do this with BIS even with the director option loaded in DM. The reconcile email option shows up in intellisync, but it does not reconcile any of my emails to outlook. I have the same situation as gary1964uk, I would prefer to get my emails to go on my blackberry first and then at the end of the day, dump them to outlook, then clean them off the blackberry. This way, I can have an archive of all emails sent, responded to, etc..... in case something comes up down the line that i need to look it up for future reference.

Do I have to upgrade to BES and/or hosted BES in order to be able to do this?